Here we have more than five hours of music on four jam-packed CDs that were first released in 1991 (from LPs) but have lately been unavailable in any form. Aside from four of the 49 selections, all were recorded between 1927 and 1939 (the exceptions are Senta’s Ballad sung by Marta Fuchs from 1940; a Nilsson/Hotter duet from Dutchman from 1957; Elisabeth’s Prayer sung by Flagstad from 1948; and the long Lohengrin Scene between Elsa and Ortrud with Tiana Lemnitz and Margarete Klose recorded in 1948). All are in respectable-to-good sound. You can see from the list of artists that this is an impressive group; of course people will complain that their favorite versions of pieces were left out, but for a relatively inexpensive collection, now available through Arkivmusic.com’s “on demand” reissue program, this is spectacular.
There are not as many pieces in French as the album’s title would suggest, but they are fascinating nevertheless: Arthur Endreze’s resigned “L’heure a sonné” (“Die Frist ist um”); a charming duet from Meistersinger with Georges Thill and Germaine Martinelli; Ortud and Telramund sung with nuance by Marjorie Lawrence and Martial Singher; Lawrence and Marcel Journet in the last act of Walküre; Isolde’s Liebestod and “Ewig war ich” with a stunning Germaine Lubin; and Marjorie Lawrence’s shattering Immolation Scene. One wishes for more Thill in particular.
A thrilling duet from the Götterdämmerung prelude with Florence Austral and Walter Widdop is a must; everything out of Frieda Leider’s mouth has warmth, commitment, and womanly–but not matronly–tone; the young Nilsson as Senta is fascinating (and Elisabeth Rethberg’s Ballad is perfect); Walther’s Prize Song and ensemble under Beecham with Torsten Ralf and Tiana Lemnitz is glorious, and so on. I guess the point is that this is a treasure-trove, reasonably priced, and should be in the collection of every Wagnerian.
